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The Aylesbury Duck

Aylesbury would merely be another little-known town in the South of England without
its association with ducks. The pure white ducks with a distinctive shape and flavour have
made Aylesbury famous. The reason for this is that in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
many people kept ducks in Aylesbury and developed the special breed of duck which became
known as the Aylesbury.

The reputation of the duck grew until it was considered to be the tastiest duckling
in the country. By 1850 thousands of ducklings were sent by train from Aylesbury to London,
where their delicate white flesh was consumed appreciatively by the wealthy. The industry
continued to thrive in and around Aylesbury until the late nineteenth century when varying
social and economic factors led to many people in Aylesbury abandoning the trade.

The Weston family who had kept a large duck farm close to the station in Aylesbury
for successive generations became the only surviving breeders in the town, but they too
eventually had to give up duck rearing after the 1950s. People in different parts of the
country began to raise Aylesbury ducks, but most, if not all, of these ducks in the
twentieth century were cross-breeds. Nevertheless the continued use of the name in
butchers' shops and restaurants has led to the survival of the name and reputation, and
made the association of Aylesbury and ducks lasting and memorable.

The Aylesbury duck is distinguished by its pure white plumage, bright orange feet
and legs, and flesh-coloured bill. The bill is long and comes out straight from the duck's
head. The under-side of the body is parallel with the ground and the legs are placed mid-way
in the body, which gives it a carriage quite different from the more upright stance of a duck
like the Peking, and has led to the ducks being compared in shape with a boat. The neck is
fine and long, with a swan-like carriage and the head is rather like an enlarged snake's
head.

It is not clear precisely how this breed evolved. Before the eighteenth century few
specific breeds of any domesticated animal are named and ducks kept for domestic consumption
on farms, which were known as the Common Duck, would have been little removed from the wild
Mallard. These ducks ranged in colour from brown and grey to black, but occasionally white
birds occurred as they did in the wild. By the eighteenth century selected breeding of the
common duck gave rise to a white domestic duck which was generally termed the "English
White" to distinguish it from the coloured strains.

The preference of local breeders for pure white plumage was probably due to the
knowledge that the dealers, who came from the East End of London, paid higher prices for
pure white feathers as these found a ready market abroad where they were popular as
quilt-filling. Certainly great trouble was taken to keep the ducks'' feathers white by
keeping them away from strong sunlight, dirty water and ferruginous soil. Another reason
was that when plucked the almost albino birds had a pink and white skin which contrasted
strongly with the yellow appearance of coloured birds and probably more attractive to the
buyer.

The main competitor to the Aylesbury duck was the Rouen, a Breed imported from France
in the early nineteenth century, which closely resembles the wild mallard in its plumage and
has delicate flesh. The Aylesbury and Rouen were the two most important market ducks of the
nineteenth century but each supplied different requirements. The two breeds came on to the
market at different times of the year. The Aylesbury was noted for its early laying
qualities, the ducks starting to lay at the beginning of November, which meant that the
first eight-week-old ducklings, which was the age at which they were killed, were coming on
to the market in February. They were therefore available at a time when the game season was
over and the spring chickens were not ready for market, late March and early April being the
peak of the season. The Rouen ducks, on the other hand, began their laying season in
February and the birds were not considered plump enough to kill until at least six months
old. Consequently the breeders concentrated on producing adult Rouen birds for autumn and
Christmas.

The duck industry began to decline in Buckinghamshire in the late nineteenth century.
The main reason for this was the general complacency and neglect on the part of the
"Duckers". This was particularly true of the small duckers who failed to introduce
improvements such as the incubator, developed in the late nineteenth century, which would
have made duck-rearing more efficient and therefore more profitable. They also failed to
maintain good stock and at one farm, which was not untypical, stock ducks were
four-year-olds. The consequent interbreeding not only meant that fertile eggs were not so
plentiful, but if also make ducklings more susceptible to fatal softbill, which was
practically unknown in Buckinghamshire. Interbreeding also led to a general weakness in the
breed.

Another reason for the decline of the duck industry was the rising cost of duck food.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century rice had cost £0.50 for 50 kilos but by the
end of it the price had quadrupled. Prices continued to sour during the First World War
which also disrupted the beneficial transport offered by the railway companies. By the end
of the War the small duckers in the Vale had disappeared and most of he surviving duckers
had large duck farms and made the changes necessary for commercial success. The Second
World War, however, led to further increases in the cost of food forcing most breeders to
give up the trade.

One of the last breeders of Aylesbury ducks in the county was Mr Waller, who sold
thousands of ducklings in the 1920s and 1930s, and in the 1980s still kept a small flock
at Chesham. In 1990 the business is being run by his son. Mr Waller's ducks and the mounted
specimens which he provided for the Buckinghamshire County Museum serve as a reminder of
the time when the Aylesbury duck was considered to be the finest in the land.